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Always alert Bob Cox sent along This Story from the Chicago Tribune on The citywide \"One Book, One Chicago\" program.
The Mockingbird has flown off the shelves at book stores and libraries around Chicago Land, and a daily, e-mail quiz on the book is being conducted in the Office of Budget and Management in Chicago City Hall.
The windy city has certainly taken wing to this book.

The Barrington Courier-Reviewreports that most Chicago public libraries remain undecided or will not implement filtering to comply with federal law.
The amount of money lost by an individual library by noncompliance can vary a lot, from $15,000 to less than $700. Many librarians say they are waiting for the law to be struck down as unconstitutional.

Troy L. Williams, founder and CEO of Questia Media Inc., has authored a piece in the Houston Business Journal on how fabulous online libraries are for, \"students and educators.\" When he says libraries, he naturally means companies like Questia, which are not libraries in my book.many college students are extremely computer savvy and do all of their research on Internet.
It may be computer savvy to do all your research on the Internet, but it sure isn\'t smart. For the other side of the coin see \"The Computer Delusion\" in The Atlantic

*Updated link, sorry about that*Here is a story from the Chicago Sun-Times about an alderman who is trying to figure out why his regional library is removing \"books in good condition.\" Ald. Eugene Shulter has community activists \"up in arms\" over what seems to be routine weeding. Security has twice attempted to have him removed from the library. Folks, this is not a good example of community relations.

An unofficial experiment by student, programmer, concerned citizen, and Canadian Brendan Wilson suggests that many members of Parliament may not be aware of the importance of the Web:

Overall the experiment demonstrated that the average Canadian cannot contact their MP office [via email] and expect a response in a reasonable length of time, if at all. My point here is not to ridicule the MPs themselves, or their offices, but rather point out the need for a more effective and interactive form of government. Our current form of government was built on the assumption that the general public did not have access to information on current events, or mechanisms to have their opinion communicated efficiently; with modern telecommunications technology, this is no longer the case. . .

A library of donated books in a Johannesburg squatter camp has been closed, prompting an angry response from residents:

A library donated to the Joe Slovo squatter camp in Johannesburg was closed last month because a residents\' committee was not informed about its opening. This week supporters of the library threatened legal action against the committee if it did not allow residents access to the facility. . . \"We need the library, especially these children,\" said Japie Mashadi, pointing at dirty children playing between the shacks. . .

This case tested just one provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the DMCA failed.

Judge Robert J. Kelleher dismissed Hendrickson\'s request for damages from eBay, saying among other things that the copyright infringement actually occurred offline. Although it may facilitate the sale of pirated material, \"eBay does not have the right and ability to control such activity,\" a standard required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the judge wrote.

Hopefully this will be the first in a long line of DMCA releated defeats.

\"Nothing says taste and intelligence quite like books. The set of NBC\'s \"Today\" show also includes a goodly portion of books arranged discreetly on a shelf, as if to suggest that Kate and Matt are passionate bibliophiles. In the shadow of books, everyone looks smarter.\"

From the Honolulu Star Bulletin:
\"State librarian Virginia Lowell is slated to get a pay raise from the Board of Education tomorrow, which would boost her annual salary to $108,000 from the current $85,302.\"Full Story

You guessed it, the unlikely guru is a former librarian! In this story from The Nando Times, Geoff Calkins writes:\"You wouldn\'t think she\'d know anything about kicking,\" says James Gaither, the Memphis punter. \"But she knows everything there is to know.\" Meet Carol White, former high school librarian, current kicking guru and possible savior-passing-through at Memphis.\"Full Story

Katie Pesznecker from the Anchorage Daily News has written a follow up to an earlier article about the kids\' book \"It\'s Perfectly Normal\". \"Robie Harris knows there are parents who don\'t want their kids reading about masturbation, homosexuality and orgasms. And that\'s fine with Harris, the author of \"It\'s Perfectly Normal,\" the sexual health book under challenge in Anchorage school libraries.\"Full Story

Judy Nelson writes \"3M Library Systems is having a drawing for a $100
American Express Gift Certificate and all you have to do is submit your quote and picture by November 1st to be entered into the drawing! We are calling it \"Pearls of Wisdom @ your library.\" Share your Pearls of Wisdom with other library professionals! For more information and to see the most recent \"Pearls of Wisdom @ your library\" go to the 3M website.
\"

Abstract: This report examines how N2H2\'s censorware deals with
archives of large amount of information. Three features are examined
from the Google search engine (Cache, Groups, Images). N2H2/BESS is
found to ban the cached pages everywhere, pass porn in groups, and
consider all image searching to be pornography. The general problems
of censorware versus large archives are discussed (i.e., why
censorware is impelled to situations such as banning the Google cache).
\"

ALICIA CALDWELL of the St. Petersburg Times writes:\"In what is the largest national survey of computer use, the U.S. Commerce Department today released statistics that show African-American and Hispanic children are far less likely to have a computer at home than white children. Consequently, computer access at schools and public libraries is particularly important to these youngsters as computers increasingly become life tools in the 21st century.\"
The story goes on to describe what libraries and schools in Tampa Bay are doing to provide access.
Full Story

Kevin Kipp from the St. Louis Commerce Magazine writes about the state of academic libraries in Missouri and how technology has improved services.
\"The world of libraries has changed because of technology,” says Karen Luebbert, vice president and executive assistant to the president at Webster University. “The key now is access rather than possession.\"
There is also a synopsis of Missouri\'s academic libraries showing volumes, budget and technology. Full Story

Award-winning children\'s book author and National Children\'s Book and Literacy Alliance founder Mary Brigid Barrett will make the case for improving school libraries this Saturday at the National Book Festival in Washington:

Libraries and librarians are in the forefront of literacy outreach, Barrett says. While organizations that give children books are providing a valuable service, they can never replace libraries. \'\'Giving a child one or two books is like giving him one free breakfast when he\'s starving,\'\' she said. School libraries are particularly needed today, because most children cannot walk to their public libraries. Libraries in urban areas may present a safety threat, and in rural areas, the distances are often too great.

Barrett says that her work with senators Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, and Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican, on legislation to increase funding for school libraries has revealed some disturbing information . . .

Bookmobiles are still going strong in PA. Currently there is at least one bookmobile in 25 Pennsylvania counties. The program began in 1977 with a single bookmobile. The bookmobiles are especially popular in rural areas without a local library. From the Tribune-Review

Mark writes \"Adam Druckman, Detroit Metro Times: The personal home page was the Web\'s first rallying call for mass social change. \"On the Internet,\" the pundits claimed, \"everyone will be a publisher!\" What happened?Full Story fromAlternet.org\"

The authors says the old style \"look at me\" homepages have changed, now the big thing is Blogging (e.g.).

\"I miss the personal home pages of yore. Their clunky charm was the prototype for the Web\'s emerging power to communicate. And now that so many of them are gone (or turned into Web logs), I wish somebody had saved the original models, if only for history\'s sake.\"

Cliff Urr writes \"Diane Rehm talks with James Billington, Librarian of Congress since 1987, about the upoming National Book Festival, hosted by First Lady Laura Bush, and about the resources and mission of the world\'s largest library.